1648.] MURDER AND ATONEMENT. 355 



serve the method of procedure, — - recollecting that 

 the public, and not the criminal, was to pay the 

 forfeit of the crime. 



First of all, the Huron chiefs summoned the 

 Jesuits to meet them at a grand council of the na- 

 tion, when an old orator, chosen by the rest, rose 

 and addressed Eagueneau, as chief of the French, 

 in the following harangue. Ragueneau, w^ho re- 

 ports it, declares that he has added nothing to 

 it, and the translation is as literal as possible. 



" My Brother," began the speaker, " behold all the 

 tribes of our league assembled ! " — and he named 

 them one by one. " We are but a handful ; you are 

 the prop and stay of this nation. A thunderbolt 

 has fallen from the sky, and rent a chasm in the 

 earth. We shall fall into it, if you do not support 

 us. Take pity on us. We are here, not so much 

 to speak as to weep over our loss and yours. Our 

 country is but a skeleton, without flesh, veins, 

 sinews, or arteries ; and its bones hang together 

 by a thread. This thread is broken by the blow 

 that has fallen on the head of your nephew,^ 

 for whom we weep. It was a demon of Hell who 

 placed the hatchet in the murderer's hand. Was 

 it you, Sun, whose beams shine on us, who led 

 him to do this deed? Why did you not darken 

 your light, that he might be stricken with horror 

 at his crime ] Were you his accomplice ] No ; 

 for he walked in darkness, and did not see where 



1 The Usual Indian figure in such cases, and not meant to express an 

 actual relationship ; — " Uncle " for a superior, " Brother " for an equal, 

 "Nephew " for an inferior 



